Growing up in the Barnes family was pretty great. Of course, I didn’t know it at the time. Every little kid thinks the way they grow up is normal until they get out into reality and realize the truth about their childhood. And so it was with me. I know now that saying “Please desist” to your siblings when they do something terribly annoying is not the norm. Nor is doing your “three things” every morning (hygiene, clean room, devotions) before anything else. Or reading the dictionary during the commercials of a football game, or having a family typing competition (who can type the fastest using this computer application with words that fall down the screen and blow up the earth when they hit it), or many other things.
I also didn’t know that there wasn’t gourmet food in every household. Of course, my dad always said, “You know guys, this is gourmet cooking. In a restaurant you would pay $20 for one plate of this!” We believed him, but never really thought about it and fully realized it until going to college (what horrible food Taylor University has!).
My dad had been going on mission trips frequently since I was about four years old. We all wanted to tag along, but had to wait until we were six years old to join him. Whenever he went on a trip my mom would get us together to draw pictures and write letters for him. Like all little children, we drew pictures of dogs, rainbows, and little smiling sick figures. They would hang on the garage door to welcome him home.
Up until I was about nine years old, and since then off and on, my dad would gather my four sisters and I up in the living room for Bible study and prayer. I can remember learning to listen to the Lord speak to us at five years old. “What is God telling you, Sethie?” Dad asked. “He says we should plant watermelon in the backyard!” I said.
My mom cares more about my sisters and I than most moms I’ve seen. She put us into the best schools possible and even home-schooled us for a couple years. When we lived in Georgia Mom worked very hard getting a private school started with several of my other friend’s moms. After coming home from school every day I’d stand with her in the kitchen and talk while she cooked. I was a mama’s boy. “Mom loves me more than you,” I’d joke with my sisters. They hated it because they half-suspected it were true.
There were a lot of things my parents did saying, “You’ll thank me when your older.” I’m not sure what all of them are, but I’m sure they’re right.
I’ll take this opportunity to thank my mom for her constant dedication to me, for believing me, and pushing me. She didn’t caudle me out of harm’s way, but loved me enough to say, “Live dangerously, Seth” no matter how hard it is for a mother to say it. Mom believed in me always, no matter what. When I couldn’t find the greatness in me, she told me what it was and tried her best to pull it out of me, even when that meant leaving me be to figure things out for myself.
My dad also sacrificed himself for my sisters and me. He set up dates with us to make us feel special, he played football with me every single day before dinner for years; he encouraged me to discover truth and talked with me thru my struggles in college. He labors for us and fights for us each day. His heart is big and growing. I am still realizing the extent to which he lays himself down each day for us. Most of the time we don’t even know it. My dad loves to laugh and joke with us, to sit down with us one-on-one and know what’s going on in our lives, to lead us thru Bible studies, and to celebrate life.
Thank you parents for your dedication to me, thru thick and thin. Thank you sisters for your love and support. It’s been an incredible privilege to build and bleed with you these past twenty-three years. I look forward to many more years of the same. I praise God that I have a family that seeks God Kingdom in unity and love thru it all!
